Security may trump privacy of U.S. foreign students

Reuters News Service

Published 6:30 am, Monday, November 26, 2001

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Engineering student Ali Al-Qahtani wonders what U.S. authorities want with his grade reports, and he chafes at the prospect of having to carry a card identifying him as a visitor from Saudi Arabia.

A newly enacted U.S. law increases scrutiny on Al-Qahtani and others among the half-million foreign students studying at U.S. colleges and universities -- creating worries that repercussions from the Sept. 11 attacks will infringe on their privacy and other accustomed freedoms.

After U.S. investigators learned that at least one of the 19 airline hijackers entered the United States on a student visa, they began demanding foreign students' records.

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The FBI and immigration officials have sought visa information, class schedules and grade transcripts for international students, who make up 3.4 percent of the enrollment at the nation's 4,000 colleges and universities.

Though privacy laws normally prohibit the release of such records without a court order, a health and safety provision has been applied to require schools to turn them over.

"We see no problem in the reporting of students information if that is going to help the United States enforce the law," said Ursula Oakes, a spokeswoman for NAFSA: Association of International Educators, which promotes international student exchanges. The group has advised schools to comply.

Last month's anti-terror law has widened investigators' wire-tap and surveillance capabilities and tightened visa regulations in the name of preventing further attacks -- measures widely criticized as undermining civil rights.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's order to question 5,000 foreigners living in the United States, some of whom may be students, added to the uproar. A congressional proposal to impose a six-month moratorium on visas was headed off.

Interviews with foreign students revealed many grudgingly accepted government steps aimed at bolstering security, but worried their rights might be trampled in the process.

"Every measure that is taken for security reasons should be taken and taken wisely, but when you give ID cards to international students and make them use them in public places, they may be targeted for being international students," said Al-Qahtani, 22, echoing concerns of others among the 1,300 foreign students at the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Al-Qahtani came to the school as a freshman in 1997.

Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond, a sponsor of the anti-terror law, said the proposed database can be implemented fairly without targeting any specific ethnic group. He said the law does not require the Justice Department to create the ID cards, it only appropriates the money for the task.

The law rankled others in the traditionally rebellious halls of academia.

The Student Association said the law, which allows for extended detention of anyone suspected of involvement in terrorism, could have a particularly chilling effect on foreign students who already face the risk of being deported.

Mohan Prasa, a graduate student at Missouri from India, said she hoped oversight would be applied prudently.

"We are in your country now, so if you want to keep track of us, it's OK," Prasa said.

Anecdotal evidence shows at least some of the nearly 550,000 international students have decided not to wait to find out what the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks would bring.

For example, 41 out of 250 Middle Eastern students left the University of Colorado in Denver and nearly half of the 130 Middle Eastern students at Washington State University in Pullman withdrew, several of whom were new arrivals from the United Arab Emirates who had yet to form strong bonds.

At the University of Missouri, school officials held forums to discuss events and to quell any backlash against foreign students, escorts were offered, and an evening exam was rescheduled so students would not have to go out at night.

Al-Qahtani said of five students he knew who left, "two said they were scared of what's going on and how things might get worse -- plus there were family pressures."

Of the dozens of hate crimes committed in the wake of the attacks against people of Arab descent or people presumed to be Arabs, four occurred on college campuses. None of Missouri's international students were physically attacked but at least four threats were reported to police.

"We haven't really felt threatened so there wasn't any reason (to leave school)," Prasa said. "With the amount of money and time invested here, it makes no sense to pack up your bags at the drop of a hat."

Still, Al-Qahtani said he hesitates before making a late-night trip to the grocery store and other foreign students spoke of similar worries.

"We are not taking any chances, like going out at night. We are taking precautionary measures," said Showlesh Lopes, a 25-year-old graduate student from India.

If international students do decide to leave, it would be a loss, said University of Missouri President Manuel Pacheco, himself a former international student.

"International students give us a first-hand account of both the similarities and differences that exist between different kinds of people," Pacheco said.

The $11 billion foreign students pump into the U.S. economy in tuition and other spending would also be missed. And international students make up one-quarter of U.S. doctoral candidates who provide a pool of low-cost teaching and research assistants, Beatty of the Students Association said.

Whether or not the new law infringes on students' civil rights, Al-Qahtani questioned its effectiveness.

"I don't think some of it will serve the purpose," he said. "People here seem to think they are the only victims of terrorism. It does not just target the American identity, it's a global problem and we should find the answer."